RTE does not apply to nursery admission: Tharoor

New Delhi: Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor on Friday said the right to education (RTE) does not apply to nursery admissions.

"The RTE doesn`t apply to nursery admissions as the law specifies eight years of compulsory schooling from the age of six to 14. Nursery children are younger than that," Tharoor said at a programme organised by a private television channel.

"As a social mechanism, a school`s admission policy has to take into account the enormous pressure of applications. The ministry can only help in encouraging a certain policy. But when children get into the six-14 age-group, I assure nobody will be left out. Nursery admissions are a little more complicated and the ministry cannot decide," Tharoor said.

There has been a confusion on whether the right to education applies to nursery admissions as Right to Education Act stipulates that a child between the age group of six to 14 would be covered under the legislation.

The government, through notifications, has allowed unaided private schools to formulate their own criteria for nursery admissions. However, it has been challenged in the Delhi High Court through a petition.